News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-08-18
NEW YORK HARBOR POLICE
THE SUCCESS OF THEIR CRUSADE
AGAINST RIVER PIRATES.
Thirty Men Able TO Ext crminatc One
Form of Crime-DaiIy Life on the
Steamer Patrol

| A New York letter to thr Chicago Tri-
| 6uae says: Down at the southern eX-
| tremity Of the island, within a stones
| throw of Castle Garden, and over against
| the pretty Battery Park, where the wOful
| tramps sleep at night, and, sullen eyed,
see-saw upon the swaying park chains by
| day, is q substantial structure which the
| city has erected for the Department of
! the Docks and for land housing of those
| who protect maritime commerce. 1t IS
called ''Pier A, " and is the first pier on
| the New York side of the Hudson. In
| the granite walled slip or basin just north
! of this structuTc may be found a neat
ana rakish craft called the Patrol. She
| is a seaworthy side wheeler, white as a
swan, and with her brass mountings
flashing in the sunlight like man-of-
wars tinishings. This craft is the actual
home ali the year through of the New
York harbor police, only thirty in num-
Der, officers and men all told, but they
arc thirty of the brightest and bray est
men in any public protective service in
America.
These harbor police form portion of
the regular Metropolitan police of New
York, and officially comprise what is
known as the Twenty fourth Precinct.
The Captain and Commander is Ebert O.
Smith, a mln Of splendid physical pres
ence and bearing, an old New York po.
liccman of bravery and brains, a gradu-
ate from the United States navy, having
also served as Lieutenant in the Peruvian
navy, thus uniting all the necessary re-
quisites for able land and naval service.
Whether cruising about the harbor Or
lying at 'Pier A, " waiting orders, naval
disc. pline and etiquette that would do
credit to any man-Of-war are invariably
ma ntained. The steamer is fitted with
cabins, offices, officers and mems quar-
ters, and while the regulations permit of
men having homes ashore and visiting
them when off duty, the regime of the
sea inexorab,y exists. The force con-
sists of a Captain. three Sergeaats, three
roundsmen, twenty-One patrolmen, an
engineer and pilot, who are also mem
bers of the harbor police, and ten civil
ians, who include the stewards and assis-
tants, and the working crew of the vessel.
When lying a!ongshore the Patrol has
precisely the same telephone and teIe-
graphic connections as those of any other
New York precinct Officers and men
are on duty day and night in the same
manner; steam is always up for immedi-
ate movement; the craft does fourteen
knots an hour when desired, and in less
than one minute from the instant telc-
graphic orders are received the Patrol,
full y manned and equipped, is away from
her mOorings, speeding to any desired
destination. In addition to her duties
as a police boat, she is floating fire engine
s i f,,r ,,I
with powerful engines and four pumps
for the most effective fire service at
burning vessels, warehouses, or docks
and wharvcs.
Though primarily the duties of the
harOOr police are to prevent and punish
9aF ae ii many other inn orant irGe
tions. Running from New York to con-
tiguOus resorts are scores of steamers
and barges in tow, fitted up for the use
of excursion parties. These are fire.
quently the scenes of desperate encoun-
tiers, and always of all manner of turbu-
lencc, while the excise laws are CON
stantly being violated. The Patrol and
her men must overhaul these craft and
set things to rights, which is seldom ac-
cOmplshed without the severest strug-
giles with offenders. Prize fights occur
at witching hours on barges or in shore
side glens. These must be discovered
and broken up by the harbor police
Vessels crews mutiny in the harbor from
bad treatment or bad food or vessels
entering port have had some terrible
mutiny at sea; or fatal atfrays happen in
the sitting holes of immigrant ships in
mid-ocean Signal flags of distress com
ho 10 o1
cases, and the offenders are brought be-
fore United States Commissioners or the
foreign Consuls of the port. Riots
among the hard crews of the coal collers
and riots along shore everywhere also
fall to their lot for quelling. When the
great yacht races occur the Patrol is in
variably called upon to preserve order
among the innumerablc attendant craft
Vessels frequently arrive with matches
battened over flaming cargoes, when her
engines and pumps are instantly needed;
and but for her services millions of do
lars worth of shipping and wharfed
ocean freight would be destroyed by fire
Tugs explode, tlinging manned and
dying men into the river. Catboats,
sloOps, and lighters 90 down, and Their
crews must be rescued Collisions fire.
Quently occur in storm and fog where
her saving services must be had. Untold
other haps and mishaps are constantly
occurring where interests are so vast and
varied, furnishing the most thrilling ex-
periences, and the best judgment, dar-
ing, and endurance of which man is
capable are of necessity continually re-
quisite on the part of this handful of
brave men.
In the everyday and never ending du-
ties of the harbor police, aside from the
service rendered maratime commerce by
the Patrol and her crew, the force is
divided into three sections and four
watches These watches are from 80
in the evening to / o'clock of the follow
ing morning; from that hour until 80
in the morning; again until 1 in the after
noon, and, finally, until $50 in the
evening. At each of these hours three
light but strong twenty-one-foOt row.
boats are sent out. Two of these are
manned by roundsman and two patrol
men for East River work, where the
tides run stronger and the river thieves
are the more pestiferous. The contigu-
ity of the headquarters steamer to points
on North River and Jersey shores render
but one boat, manned by two patrolmen,
necessary for North or HundsOn River
service. These boats thus manned are
never idle for one moment out of the
twenty-fou hours Of every day in the
year The men usually wear their old
and begrimed uniforms are armed with
savage revolvers and clubs, and the
boats are furnished with graphing hooks,
tOw-lnes, dark lanterns, and powerful
glasses for discerning minute objects at a
distance, and much else appropriate for
their peculiar and often exciting and
dangerous work.
In and out of the docks and slips;
against and with the tide; whirling in
strong cddies that sccthe about the stcrns
of great ocean steamers; pulling under
the very crash and spume of ferry wheels;
stealing upon lighters in mid stream;
gliding noiseles5ly among the fleets of
canal boats, and sharply scanning their
outlandish crews and loiterers; over
hauling the tawny junkmen in their
queer craft and forcing an account of sus-
picious cargoes; appearing suddenly
upon barges where reckless characters
are hustling innocent picnickers; bob
bing up here and there among the oyster
and fishing craft to quietly reduce brawl-
ing and riot to dcmure and humble
order; unexpectedly appearing among
the young and old pirates of Hook Dock,
Wallabout and South Brooklyn, and sup
prC sSing half-rcady eXDcditions of thirv-